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"Never fear, Number One. Your big, scary, General Linarite will protect you from whatever strange offenders will be chewing the sugar out of your bones. Be it Scheelite or senshi!" It was probably one of the few things that she could do effectively. "The next problem will be those hideous wings. How do you feel about fastening them to your backside? I mean, I'm sure we can make up a cutesy pair that can also be used as a pillow for when you fall over!" Hopping with ease up two stories, Lina waited for Zink to keep up with her as they moved across town, before dropping down into the alleyway next to the cafe. Then, she was suddenly Audrey Collins again, heading for the door.

"Oh and by the way..." Lightly, her fist rammed right into the side of Zac's shoulder. "I already offered to pay! You're not gonna get out of it that easily. It's not like I'm destitute or anything." Far from it really, with Petalite's great mining, Elzo's willingness to buy her anything she wanted, Jada paying her whatever she wanted for the bookkeeping, and her parents still gave her allowance. No, she could handle a coffee and a snack!

Zac was rather lucky, in that moment, that his Captain was holding neither food nor drink as she would have dropped them in shock. Certainly her golden eyes went wide, and stared for a long moment before stepping up to the counter to order. The short Hillworth student was waved forward to give his choice, and everything was paid in full. The pair walked in silence until they were alone, and then Audrey spoke again.

"Who told you I know anything about Castor, Captain?" Though they were in their human forms, the authority that Linarite wielded was clear in her eyes. There was no more sensitive topic to the General, and she was unhappy.

Nothing was secret from the Information Police, was it? Big Brother was always watching, except Linarite had always thought herself exempt from it. After all, she was much bigger than this Brother, wasn't she? Apparently, she was not. There was some regret on Audrey's face as she crammed the sticky-sweet bun into her mouth, chewing with zeal and washing it down almost as fast. Peering around, the bluenette ducked into an alleyway. The flash of change was easy for Zac to feel, and soon she was beckoning upwards that he should join her.

"I'll give you the information you want, if you follow me."

Emotions were funny things. They never made sense, they were never logical, they were almost always an nuisance and over time Linarite had learned to control them to the best of her ability. So when she wanted to shake and scream at Zinkenite, the young woman simply settled onto a rooftop high over Destiny City. Her legs were crossed at the ankles, and she regarded the teen she'd rescued from a closet over a year ago. "You've grown up a bit, yanno? It really makes you, being in the Negaverse. You can't screw around. I used to." Lips pursed, and she hunched forward for a moment, piercing Zinkenite with a look.

"You can't tell anyone what I'm going to tell you. If you do, I swear on the Queen's head that I'll have yours. I'll eat your star seed myself. You're a real friend to me Zink, and I can give you information that will help. But you can't say who gave it to you. The Queen can know...she knows what I'm telling you. But no one else." There was an odd desperation in Linarite's eyes. She wanted to tell her story.

But she had to be sure.

Teeth flashed, white and quick in the lights beneath them. A stuffed panda? Lina had known that he'd been oddly attached to the creatures, but a stuffed panda? She'd have to ask to see it someday soon. Maybe even get a picture of him hugging the thing....but no. That was blackmail and blackmail was bad when someone was your friend.

"Panda huh? I'll take that collateral secret to my grave, promise." Fingers crossed over Linarite's heart childishly, before fingers ran through her blue hair and she considered where to start. "I said I used to screw around, and I did. It wasn't so serious back when I started out. It was just Hematite, Obsidian, and Nealite before me. I was the first real kid that Charonite went for, dunno why me. But we just sorta breezed on through, fighting senshi very rarely. There weren't so many then, not nearly like there are now." Grey hips scooted back to sit on the edge of the building, eyes fairly steady on the Captain as she told the story that had been building inside.

"Castor was my first senshi battle. He tried to flirt, because apparently he has a weakness for girls." Thinking of bait, a deep gold gaze skimmed Zinkenite up and down once. "That's something to put in your book, but you should know his real weakness." Another breath, blown out quickly. "It's me."

It was hard, very hard, to hold on to solid bitterness when Zink was being so very thoughtful and tactful. Lina wasn't stupid, she could see the wheels turning in his head how to best use this unexpected bit of information to the advantage of the Negaverse. Unfortunately, it was probably hitting the same wall she'd smacked against time and time again; how could she possibly sacrifice herself to bring him down?

"I think it should be noted he likes pretty girls. I would rather you keep that personal information to yourself. Because...well. I loved him." There was a light quaver to the bluenette general's voice on those last three words, and the way she said 'loved' indicated rather obviously she wasn't sure it was past-tense at all. "It started really stupid, we were both hurting from fights and didn't want to have another so we just...talked. Then he kissed me and..." Her head shook, daisy earrings poking into her skin as a reminder of her real feelings. "It got out of control from there. We were finding excuses to run into each other, hide and just be ridiculous." White fingers tangled in blue curls, a sure sign that Linarite was feeling very insecure when she told this story. Telling Vicky had been one thing. Zink was a third party entirely!

"That's why the queen wants to get rid of me. Nealite was the one that knew about Castor's feelings, and they translated to the Queen. She knew that I saw one of our greatest threats as someone...someone I wanted to save. But he wouldn't abandon his princess." Absently a hand rubbed at her stockinged leg, the one that had crumpled and taken the brunt of her fall off that building. That stupid shade of Serenity that haunts our planet and makes us fight...he wouldn't leave her to join us. So I've been trying to kill him since." With one exception.

Zinkenite would never know about what had happened in that deserted room, just as the Queen would never know. Victoria would never know. That was her secret; hers and Castor's. Even now, thinking about the fact that she would have to kill him had a piece inside of her breaking and screaming that this was wrong. But Linarite, like her human self, was excellent at ignoring things she did not want to hear.

"We have to take him down. He won't ever give up, and he keeps getting stronger. I don't want anyone else to die because of my weakness."

Something that would never cease to overwhelm Linarite was the fact that there were people that knew her flaws, and cared for her anyway. It washed over her like the waves of the ocean, smoothing away the hurt and turmoil beneath the surface for just a few moments, allowing her to bask in the sun of their feelings. Had she been a lesser woman, there might have been tears in the general's eyes. But she wasn't a crier, hated being a crier, and it was why her favorite Captain was not enfolded into a sobbing hug at that very moment.

Instead, Linarite simply leaned forward and very lightly brushed her lips over Zinkenite's cheek. "Thank you. I am sure with you at the helm of this project, we'll find a way to make everything alright, won't we?" It was rather evident that somewhere deep down, the general was hoping rather clearly that they would find a way to help or spare Castor.

First loves died hard, after all.